Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) Holdings Reduced by Equity Investment Corp

Equity Investment Corp lessened its holdings in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 16.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 789,707 shares of the company’s stock after selling 154,434 shares during the period. Ingredion accounts for about 2.5% of Equity Investment Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Equity Investment Corp owned 1.21% of Ingredion worth $108,632,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Ingredion during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ingredion during the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Ingredion in the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Ingredion by 431.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ingredion in the third quarter valued at approximately $86,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Ingredion news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 10,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.88, for a total transaction of $1,361,392.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 34,127 shares in the company, valued at $4,295,906.76. This trade represents a 24.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO James D. Gray sold 54,869 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.76, for a total value of $8,052,574.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,795 shares in the company, valued at $1,877,794.20. The trade was a 81.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 65,685 shares of company stock worth $9,414,112 in the last three months. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on INGR shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on Ingredion from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ingredion from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Ingredion from $145.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Ingredion from $178.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Ingredion from $147.00 to $133.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $158.20.

Ingredion Stock Performance

Shares of Ingredion stock opened at $130.59 on Thursday. Ingredion Incorporated has a 12 month low of $109.51 and a 12 month high of $155.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market cap of $8.38 billion, a PE ratio of 13.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.74. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $133.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.61.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. Ingredion had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 18.62%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.65 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ingredion Incorporated will post 11.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio is 32.96%.

About Ingredion

Ingredion Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells sweeteners, starches, nutrition ingredients, and biomaterial solutions derived from wet milling and processing corn, and other starch-based materials to a range of industries in North America, South America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.